Before I chuck myself into my write up of this year’s GBBF (Great British Beer Festival) I thought I should really get round to publishing these reviews that have been kicking about on my notepad for a while now; so here is the first of them:

Admiral’s Reserve is a strong ale from the Woodforde’s brewery in Woodbastwick, Norfolk. Despite being a small brewery Woodforde’s have consistently produced exceptionally good beers and Admiral’s Reserve is no different.

When poured it has a tawny almost coppery colour with a very small, almost non-existent, fluffy head.

The aroma from the beer is fruity and sweet with a roasted malt undertone which stops it from being sickly or over powering.

Woodforde’s say that in both flavour and smell there are hints of sultanas, almond and sherry and they are bang on the money; however unlike a lot of beers with these particular flavours Admiral’s Reserve has none of the Christmas cake like overtones that you would expect.

The fruit is sweet but light, there are notes of caramel which add to the overall sweetness of the beer but there is also a rich roasted flavour that comes through from the malts (rye malt I believe) which balances things out nicely.

The mouthfeel of the beer is full bodied, malty and smooth with a nice bitter finish.

You will probably hear me mention CAMRA a great deal in my posts, as such I should probably explain who they are and what they do.

In a nutshell CAMRA is the CAMpaign for Real Ale, they were formed back in the 70s with the aim of promoting and raising awareness for Real Ale, Real Cider and the British Pub.

They tend to promote smaller brewers and champion the less common types of beer and other traditional drinks; for example porters, milds, perry and stouts.

They publish a good beer guide each year, along with their monthly magazine which goes out to about 100k members.

CAMRA also organise and support a large number of beer festivals around the UK including the Great British Beer Festival at which there are often awards given out to beers that they deem to be particularly worthy.

If you want to find out more about them or possibly even become a member than you can visit there website here